Brendan Dassey's lawyer explains why she says his 'Making a Murderer' confession is false
Body language and what it means can differ between kids and adults.
Also kids are more affected by their surroundings than adults.
She pointed out that Dassey, who had already undergone three interviews in 48 hours, was placed in a "coercive environment": the corner of a small room.
The methods used to get Dassey to speak about evidence contaminated the interview.
The police presented Dassey with false evidence. The interviewer told Dassey that they had proof of Dassey's participation in the murder. "You were there when she died, and we know that," he said.
The police can also add "contamination" to the interview by telling the suspect information that hadn't been disclosed by him. In this case, the interviewer tried to steer Dassey into saying that Halbach was shot in the head. After several failed attempts, the police interrogator finally said, "All right, I'm just going to come out and ask you. Who shot her in the head?"
Dassey answered that Avery did. But Nirider argues that telling him the information made it impossible to figure out if her client really didn't know about it or did and was lying. We can never know now.
The police also used threats and promises.
Dassey thought he'd be let go if he told the police what they wanted to hear. An adult would know that confessing to a murder wouldn't result in being freed.
In the end, Nirider broke from the science to remind the crowd of the reality of Dassey's situation.
"While it's fascinating and while it's a useful case to study and understand, the story is still raw for Brendan, his mother, his family, and friends," she said.
Watch Fox 9's story on Nirider's presentation below:
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